The business of college sports has dominated discussions at this week's NCAA Convention, which runs through Saturday at Atlanta's Marriott Marquis and Hyatt. Citing a now-familiar refrain in college sports that the current financial model cannot be sustained, Smith College sports economist Andrew Zimbalist advocated for a football playoff and an antitrust exemption to help regulate coaches' salaries. Earlier, SMU President and Knight Commission co-Chair Gerald Turner and Michigan professor Rodney Fort both pressed for a reduction in the financial pressures on college sports. “If the solutions were known, we’d have added another section in our report. But the discussion at least has to begin,” Turner told the audience of athletic administrators. The convention audience Thursday heard from interim NCAA President Jim Isch, who delivered the state of the association report. Isch says the permanent replacement for late President Myles Brand, who died on September 16 from pancreatic cancer, is expected by the fall. Additionally, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan made quite an impression Thursday when he called for even stricter penalties against teams that do not graduate their players. Duncan called the NBA's age limit rule a farce and intellectually dishonest. Today, the NCAA moves deeper into its business phase with the Division I issues forum and business session. The convention concludes Saturday with final meetings by the NCAA's executive committee.

REMEMBERING BRAND: During the convention, the NCAA announced it is donating $500,000 to the Myles Brand Chair in Cancer Research at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.